Narayana Murthy Pitches for Austerity to Scale up Companies' Growth

Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy said that it is extremely important to spend less than what you earn.

Narayana Murthy had earlier said IT companies can protect the jobs of youngsters if senior executives take paycuts.

Bengaluru: Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy has pitched for top executives, including CEOs, and other practising austerity for scaling up their companies’ growth.

“I would say that it is extremely important to spend less than what you earn, ideally. That means everybody, starting from the Chairman and CEO to a janitor will have to demonstrate austerity, will have to demonstrate simplicity, to scale up companies’ growth,” he said on Tuesday.

A company, Murthy said, will have to get the best value for money for every paise it spends.

In June this year, Murthy had said IT companies can protect the jobs of youngsters if senior executives take paycuts.

He also urged employees of companies to ask questions, including how to reduce time and improve quality of whatever they are doing, which would ultimately result in companies increasing their revenues.

“Once you start doing it, then revenues will increase significantly and cost will be under control. That is what I would say it is the most important thing," he said.

Murthy also said scaling up of any company depends on technology because it reduced costs. Scaling up could also be done by focusing on productivity of the people by training them, which would enable them to do much more, he said.

Replying to a query, Murthy said government’s primary role to encourage entrepreneurship was to reduce friction in businesses, which will help them spend more time in satisfying and keeping its customers motivated.

The government could also provide tax advantage for companies at initial stages, which could act as an incentive for young entrepreneurs to get more work, he said.